The effect of cognitive style and cueing on recall and time in free text on a computer screen.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between field independency/less field independency and the use of salient cueing where all cues were relevant in a narrative format to college freshmen students' ability to process information presented on a computer screen. The research utilized a 2 x 3 factorial design with two levels of field independence (less versus more) and three types of experimental, text only, presentation (bold face, underlining, and control/no treatment) as the two independent variables. Two dependent variables--recall/comprehension and time taken to read the narratives presented on the computer screen--were used to measure students' ability to process information in order to test the hypotheses. To insure that subjects' reading ability was controlled, the Nelson-Denny Reading Test was used as a covariate. The hypotheses of this study asserted that significant differences existed between field independent and less field independent persons. It was hypothesized that cued text would improve recall/comprehension and the time taken to read the material from a computer screen of field independent and less field independent subjects and that cueing would mitigate any differences that would allow field independent subjects to significantly outperform less field independent subjects. No differences were found between field independent and less field independent subjects, and the use of cueing had no effect on either field independent or less field independent subjects. Utilizing only the most extremely field independent and least field independent subjects in a follow-up analysis yielded results which, while not statistically significant, were all in the expected directions. This research provides a base line for further research in cueing and cognitive style using free text. It has specific importance in providing research results of different cognitive styles in a setting where all salient cues were also relevant using a computer monitor as the instrument of information delivery.